Tropical Gardens - a guide to creating a tropical garden

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This is one of my favourite garden styles. It is particularly effective when used close to the house, perhaps surrounding a patio. With careful planting it is a style which can be very dramatic even in winter which is another reason why it is a good choice for near the house where it can be seen from the windows or patio doors.

A tropical garden style is one where everything is large, green and dramatic. Architectural plants are used in abundance. Choose plants with big leaves or dramatic spiky leaves. Lots of shiny-leaved plants add to the tropical look. Colours tend to take second place in that the overall look is very green but patches of very bright, very dramatic colours can be introduced.

A tropical garden needs to be packed with plants but use lots of the same plants. Decide which plants you are going to use and plant in groups and use the same plants throughout the garden. A common mistake when creating any garden is to give in to temptation whenever you go to the garden centre and end up with a garden with no structure and too 'bitty' to have a good overall style.